Education

Beginning with the 2016-17 school year, South Carolina’s high school students will be graded on a 10-point scale. The South Carolina Board of Education unanimously voted last week to make the change from the current 7-point scale.
State Superintendent Molly Spearman said in a release the shift to a 10-point scale will level the playing field for Palmetto State high schoolers.

Polar bears, mini-greenhouses and human burial pods were among the projects featured this week at the annual Earth Day Event at USC Lancaster, as Geology 103 students ended the semester with proposals for a brighter future.
“This is my environmental geology class,” said Instructor Lynette Martek, surveying the crowded classroom. “These are the people who will save the Earth.”

The TRiO program at USCL honored its past and its finest at the annual OSPy (Opportunity Scholars Program) awards ceremony on Wednesday. Former TRiO Director Thelathia “Thee” Bailey was honored for her years of service, and top honors for Best All-Around Student went to Kera Stroner.
Students and staff filled the special events room in the Bradley Arts and Sciences Building, which was decorated with a Mardi Gras theme. Smooth jazz filled the air, adding a feeling of celebration.

Dr. Susan Cruise, an assistant professor of sociology, was named the University of South Carolina Lancaster’s Teacher of the Year on Thursday during the college’s first Celebration of Research and Productive Scholarship Day.

Seventh-grader Yasir Speaks stands stock still as his classmates watch, mouths agape, from the bleachers in the Indian Land Middle School gym.
Herpetologist Ron Cromer approaches him with a black snake wrapped around his wrist.
Yasir follows Cromer’s instructions and holds his arms out, an uncertain grin on his face. He’s about to do something most of his classmates never have: hold a snake as long as he is tall.

Spotlighting statewide arts education programs and setting expectations high for students are just some of the items on S.C. Superintendent of Education Molly Spearman’s bucket list.
Speaking to hundreds of educators inside Heath Springs Elementary School’s auditorium Tuesday, Spearman touched on those issues as part of the statewide Arts in Basic Curriculum meeting.

Will mobile classrooms packed full of students soon become the norm at some of Lancaster County’s most crowded schools?
It’s a possibility that scares many local school district officials and residents, and is driving the effort to pass a $199 million school bond referendum during a special election next Tuesday, March 22.

Ask Heather Padilla how she rates her singing on a scale from one to 10, and she says, “Probably a four.” Then she laughs.
So why would this Lancaster High School math teacher unleash her voice on the Internet? Why would she record new lyrics for Adele’s “Hello” and post it for the world to experience?
For Padilla, it was a no-brainer. Her students were in need.

Lancaster County school board members voted unanimously Dec. 15 to approve a resolution calling for a referendum on a $199 million bond issue for capital projects at county schools.
Lancaster County voters will decide the fate of the proposed bond issue March 22.
The school board’s vote is the latest in an effort that began in late September to address a growing need for new schools in Indian Land and capital needs at other county schools.

A 14-year-old Indian Land High School varsity baseball player is recovering in a Charlotte hospital after he was struck in the head by a ball and lost consciousness during an evening practice Dec. 9.
The student, whose name is not being released by school officials, was running the bases at the school about 5 p.m. Wednesday when he was hit, said Lancaster County School District safety director Bryan Vaughn.